I had many a sleepless night thinking about travelling internationally with a strong willed three year old.
I would tell people about our vacation and they would immediately point to Savannah and say in a panicky way “With her?”. Yes, with her. I was pretty confident about her travel skills due to our test run to Seattle a few months ago, but we had FOUR flights to get us to Cork.
I had packed 20 hours of television and movies onto the Ipod and the computer. Plus I had games and stickers and books and crayons. It was the best I could do.
Flight’s one and two were the easy ones: Austin to Dallas and Dallas to Chicago. Hey Chicago relatives: Did you know that it’s only a 2 hour flight from O’Hare to Dallas and only 2 1/2 to Austin? You may be getting a visit from me soon.
We also (due to Conor’s frequent travelling) got to hang out in the Admiral’s Club during our layover in Chicago. That place is magic!! So much quieter and nicer than the regular airport waiting areas. It really does keep you relaxed. Plus – free sodas, wi-fi and a nicely stocked bar. Wins all around.
We went down to the gate for our overnight flight to Dublin and as they started boarding something amazing happened. They announced “Cunningham, party of three, please recheck”. I, of course, think we have been bumped off the plane, but then they handed us three new tickets and said “We upgraded you to Business Class”. We did not ask why, we just took the tickets and ran to the jetway.
I’m not going to lie – International Business Class is the best thing EVER! We had those sleeper seats and a hot meal with real silverware, plus our own little personal entertainment systems. It was a really lovely surprise and made the overnight trip much easier on us all.
Look at my cute seatmate!
Business Class is Savannah Jane Cunningham approved!
The overnight flight went fine (Smooth with no bumps over the ocean! The nervous flyer was thankful). We got into Dublin and then had to wait three hours for our flight to Cork. This is when I broke down a little. I felt a little light-headed and nauseous from travel exhaustion and I really had a hard time keeping up with Savannah – who seemed to take three hours of sleep in stride.
I passed out on the quick flight to Cork though (on a teeeeeeny little prop place) and felt much better once we we there.
Next time- Cork and the Southern Coast and a million cousins!
